The components of sustainable cultural change are many and can be sub-divided, and sub-divided again. But before listing and explaining the individual components, (component means a part of a whole,) it is necessary to change the language a bit to get a clear picture of what we are really talking about.

Of course we know that sustainable means something that can last over a period of time. It is sustained, or maintained. Cultural change is the way in which our world moves from one phase to a more acceptable phase in the many areas we encounter as human beings throughout our lives. Sustainable cultural change is, therefore, the changing of society in ways that improve our lives and the condition of our planet in lasting and meaningful ways.

To boil it down, this writer has referred to a 1999 report by Hartmut Bossell to the Balaton Group, entitled Indicators for Sustainable Development: Theory, Method, Applications. The report covers many aspects of sustainable cultural change, but there is only space to touch on the main points of this subject.

The following are six major systems which are developed and are essential to our well-being:

*  Individual development. There are things in this group that are developed and changed, such as human rights and civil liberties, self-determination, health, social participation, gender and class-specific roles, standard of living in a material sense, adult education, leisure, recreation and the arts, planning of life and family, right to work, and several more issues.

*  Social system. This category includes socioeconomic concerns, such as ethnicity, income distribution, class structure, social groups, social security, medical care, care for the aging, organizations, and population development. There are many more sub-divisions under this group. As you know, these are areas that are continually being scrutinized and developed for the betterment of society. The ideal is to develop social systems to implement sustainable conditions that are indeed improvements for humankind.

*  Government. Included here are the administration of government, taxation and public finances, participation in the political process and democracy, national and international resolution of conflicts, immigration policies, our legal system, the control of crime, international assistance, and technology policies along with a host of other government issues. Again, these concerns are uppermost on the minds of those who have the responsibility of developing government agencies and implementing sustainable cultural change policies.

*  Infrastructure. These are the underpinnings of our country. The infrastructure of any country includes towns and cities, transportation, supply systems including energy, services, water, goods, and food), waste disposal, communications and media, educational and training facilities, research development, science, and the issue we hear much about today - health services. There are more. Experts in their various fields work to improve and develop the infrastructure of their rural areas, towns, cities, states, and countries.

*  Economic systems. Money, production, consumption, commerce and trade, income, market, inter-regional trade, and labor and employment are all classified under economic systems. Economic systems around the world are suffering currently, as these sub-categories have gotten out of control. Work must be done to improve and develop new alternatives for sustainable recovery in these areas.

*  Resources and environment. Naturally, we hear much about global warming, sustainable sources of energy, and all things related to resources and environment. This sub-division includes our natural environment, our atmosphere and hydrosphere, natural resources, ecosystems, species, depletion of nonrenewable resources, waste absorption, material recycling, degradation, pollution, regeneration of renewable sources, and carrying capacity. A class in environmental science these days will cover much of the above.

As you can see, the above divisions include almost every system found within most cultures. Individual potential means simply that - the possibilities for human development - a result of culture and tradition, as well as economic conditions and sociopolitical endeavors. Social potential, although less tangible, is a strong cultural component that regulates relationships and a coherent social atmosphere through the values of honesty, efficiency, competence, and trust. Organizational potential deals with management of all systems in government, business, resource usage, etc. It benefits every other system. Infrastructure potential is the “backbone of all economic and social activity,” states Bossell, and is the building block of “cities, roads, water supply systems, schools, universities,” and more. Natural potential includes “renewable and nonrenewable resources of materials, energy and bio-systems, including the capacity for waste absorption and regeneration.”

Sustainable cultural change depends on the amount of reliable research and development of all the above systems in ways that can benefit the human race to the greatest extent. The components rely on each other - none are independent of the others, and all the components are parts of the whole. It is by working to adopt new and better methods of managing these components that we benefit culture and society. As Bossell says in his report, “We now know what we need and want as indicators: system variables that provide us with all essential information about the viability of a system and its rate of change and about how that contributes to sustainable development of the overall system.”

The components of sustainable cultural change are much more complex than can be explained in this short space, but the components listed above are the areas where attention has been focused over the years to bring our world to where it is today.